Are you a recent college or high school graduate? As your last summer of freedom is coming to an end and you are about to join the ranks of the office workers, I’ll bet you’ve been receiving a lot of career advice from your family and friends. All well intentioned, I’m sure.
So I’m going to give you some career advice that, most likely, no one has told you yet – and that you might not want to hear. But if your goal is to climb the career ladder, then you should read my comments…
Your career is YOUR responsibility. That’s right, YOUR responsibility. Not your manager’s responsibility. Not HR’s responsibility. And certainly not your college’s responsibility (or your parent's). Being successful means you need to treat your career like a business and treat yourself like a product that you work on improving, year after year. Define your career aspirations and then create a career development plan that you update on an annual basis.
You can’t do mediocre work – your work must be exemplary. Doing so-so work won’t get you noticed. If you want to stand out and get promoted, then you need to do outstanding work that will get you seen by management. Look for ways you can go above and beyond the daily requirements to demonstrate how you add value to the organization.
Don’t let a rotten economy spoil your goals. Use the career and money advice in The Millennial Game Plan to get and stay ahead for good.
You need to become an expert in something. People turn to the experts when there are challenges and to solve problems. Look for areas in your business where you can put your skills to use and become an expert. Then, volunteer for projects that will allow you to use these skills and show them off.
You’ll never love 100% of your job – and that’s okay. Many young people finish high school or college and wrongly assume that they’ll love every aspect of every job they’ll ever have. The truth is… that isn’t going to happen. Literally no one loves every part of his or her job. That’s okay. The trick is to figure out the parts you love and the parts that you don’t like that much, and then come up with ways you can make the icky parts more fun.
You must continuously prove that you are an asset to the organization. So you did a great job finishing a project on time and under budget. Good for you. Now, you have to do it all over again. Don’t expect to skate by on good past performance. Every day when you get up and go into work, you must be able to prove your value to the company.
Career sponsors are more important than career mentors. Career mentors can be amazingly helpful. So find career mentors who can teach you skills in areas that you’re lacking. But what’s even more priceless, is finding a career sponsor who will look out for your best interests and help you fast-track your career.
Being arrogant is the fastest way to grind your career to a halt. Want to get promoted? Want to climb the career ladder into management and then executive-level positions? Then learn how to play nice with others. That’s right – learn to flex your style so you can get along with any personality type.
~ Lisa Quast, author of award-winning book, YOUR CAREER, YOUR WAY!. Join me on Twitter @careerwomaninc
